Myself and my younger daughter Kathryn had planned a trip down Sker point for the last couple of weeks but the weather was never right to go. It was great today to see that the weather was looking good first thing. So for the first stop we went to Salt Lake carpark to check the Gulls and on arriving we could see most of the Gulls were on the Beach and would need a closer look for any rung birds. So once on the beach I got my homemeal loaf out and started feeding the Gulls and almost in seconds I got two Med Gulls in a flock of about thirty gulls but most were Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls. This was the only gull with rings on in the flock. It was murder to follow, it kept disappearing before I could get a photo and at one point landed on the sea and I thought thats it then. Well after a couple of mintues it turned up in the flock again and give me one more chance and luck would have it I got a photo and I could read the ring and it looks like 2X7N. I will send the record in and see what it says.
A quick stop at Victoria Avenve and I got my third Med Gull of the day, it was a first winter bird but it landed for a second and was gone.
At Sker House I checked the Barn for the resident Little Owl but sadly no sign. All I picked up on the way down was a flock of about 30 Linnet and a pair of stonechat. Once at the point we checked the tide line for birds and I picked two big bags of rubbish with my litter picker. Also on the little bit of beach we find four dead birds and they were a single Kittiwake, two Golden Plover and a Fieldfare. After a coffee we looked over the rocks at Sker and we found 2 Redshank, 4 Ringed Plover, about two hundred and fifty Golden Plover, 4 Dunlin, 6 Knot, 6 Curlew, 5 Purple Sandpiper and half dozen of both turnstone and oystercatcher. I also had a Rock Pipit displaying over the rocks.
Kittiwake.
One of the four Golden Plover.
Along the coast road we found two more Golden Plover and a big pile of feathers of Golden Plover and could have easy been another. Just goes to show in a small area we found all these birds and if we had walked to the rivermouth we would probably have had double figures.
Fieldfare.
On a happier note we found this caterpillar on the way back and looks like a drinker moth .
The more i think of it i had a yellow rung med gull before with phil and it was from ireland and ladys island lake .
ReplyDeletestarting to feel i am talking to myself again and i been told the Med Gull is a second winter going to second summer and god humans more staight forward and children teenager and adult.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I hate gulls so much. Wish they were all adults.
ReplyDeleteOld age kicking and i record this med gull last year and i think with phil and only third time recorded and in march 5 2017 and than it went to Slimbridge and me a year later at porthcawl.it was rung on 8 June 2016 at lady.s islands like Ireland.
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